The Big Churches

Notre Dame

There are two little islands on the Seine River and the larger of the two - Ile de la Cite - is packed full of historical goodness. 

Point Zero - the center of France from which all distances are measured. Around 50BC the Romans conquered the Parisii tribe and built their Temple of Jupiter here, then when the Germanic Franks moved in after Rome fell they replaced the temple with the Christian church of St. Etienne (6th century) - all of this where Notre-Dame now stands.

Ground was broken in 1163 and the first mass took place almost 200 years later in 1345. Named for "our lady" (Mary)

Some details: 1) See that happy little gargoyle halfway up on the left side? That's Paris' most photographed gargoyle. 2) Mary in Rose window. 3) Line of 28 Kings of Judy. 4) Center door - Last Judgement. Eek!

During the French Revolution the citizens stormed the church and beheaded the statues because they were thought to be the French Kings making them all look like a bunch of St. Denises (see below). Crazy enough someone who knew better collected them and buried them for safekeeping. They were accidentally unearthed in 1977!

Left: St. Denis (first bishop of Paris and patron saint). He came to Paris from Italy in the 3rd century, settled on this little island and proved so successful at winning converts that Roman pagan priests had him beheaded. Why is he a saint you ask? Because he picked up his head, tucked it under his arm and and found a more comfortable spot to die - closeby Montmartre. (Montmarte comes from the Roman "Mount of Mars" but many prefer to think its "Mount of Martyrs" - to each his own.)

The Nave - one of the things that makes this place truly Gothic - super tall with less internal support, more windows letting in lots of light through all the incredible windows.

The alter at the center of the typical cross-shaped basilica floorplan. 

 

Statue of Joan of Arc, she was beatified at Notre Dame in 1909 after being burned at the stake for 1431 by the English for claiming to hear heavenly voices (and rallying French troops to kick the  English out of France).

 

Thomas Aquinas was a frequenter at mass here when he was studying and writing at the University of Paris. The church can hold 10,000 for mass.

The windows are awesome. The large one is called the Rose Window and has teeny Mary and Jesus and the center.

A model inside of the whole place

The back with the famous flying buttresses that help hold up the nave. The front.

Outside now. Lots of buttresses and gargoyles (which are to represent souls caught between heaven and earth). 

The Neo-Gothic spire (300 feet tall) is a product of the 1860 reconstruction brought on by a young architect student being inspired by Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame - so he dedicated his life to bringing the dilapidated church back to its former glory.

Stepping back to take it all in - anyone else wish that big green tree wasn't there to block half of it?

From the Pont de L'Archveche

 

Sainte-Chapelle

The line for this guy was so long when we walked over from Notre Dame (on the same little island) on our Rick Steves "Historic Paris Walk" that we took a raincheck  planning to come back first thing another morning. That worked out much better. 

Still quite the line. But I believe we were feasting on some sort of French interpretation of an egg McMuffin while we waited so we were okay.

Stepping back its kind of hard to distinguish the church from the Palace of Justice (where France's Supreme Court meets) that engulfs it.

The Neo-Gothic spire was added in the 19th century.

According to Rick, the outside is basically functional - just built to hold up the glass, which from the outside doesn't look like anything special.

The floor you enter into (too dark for pictures) was basically a basement painted with fleurs-de-lis (symbol of the king) and was for staff and common people. But if you were royal you got to go upstairs...

Same type of ceiling as in Notre Dame - but this one has been repainted (replica-style) to show what it would have really been like (not bare stone). So pretty. 

And you just can't imagine the amount of light coming in from the windows.

The rose window.

The window pains tell different parts of Scripture and French history but I'm not sure how anyone can really tell - Genesis, life of Moses (lots of Moses, actually), the Passion, some french battlescenes called the Holofernes, and Helena in Jerusalem which tells the story of Constantine's mother (Helena) returns from Jerusalem with a bunch of relics including the crown of thorns which she brought back to her son. Roughly 800 years later King Louis IX sent crusaders to the Holy Land to bring it and other relics to France.

I actually enjoyed Sainte-Chapelle more than Notre Dame in interms of beauty. But fewer gargoyles and no flying buttresses mean its a wash.